What Really Counts
by XxSeriouslyJadedxX
Summary: [Oneshot][SasuSaku]'Sasuke kun, I baked you a cake! I hope you like it' '...I hate sweets.' Uchiha Sasuke is about to find out...that in the end...it's the thought that counts.


Uchiha Sasuke lay on his bed. His fists were clenched. His teeth were gritted, his eyebrows knitted together in pent up anger. What was the source of the teenage heartthrob's frustration? Well, source**s** would be a better word.

After three years at the Sound, Sasuke had returned willingly, just when Tsunade had been planning on sending an ANBU team to go retrieve him. He was put on probation for at least a year, which meant absolutely no mission above 'C' rank. When he had made a move to protest, Kakashi, his former sensei, had put a hand on his shoulder and quietly told him that he was lucky to be receiving any mission at all.

That shut the Uchiha up for the time being. But that was no why the Uchiha was ready to break the probation and go kill something…or someone.

He was locked up inside his room in the otherwise empty Uchiha estate, but he knew that if he walked outside, he would be greeted with a mountain of 'get well soon…Sasuke-kun' gifts. One would think that after he had betrayed and abandoned the village, everyone would despise him.

Three years had no changed his reputation at all. Fangirls...mad raving lunatic fangirls were waiting for him on his doorstep the moment he was released from the hospital. How he managed to push past the horde of girls was beyond his knowledge.

But it was afternoon, exactly three hours after his release, and all those who wished to visit (without his permission) seemed to have already came. Sasuke decided that it was finally safe to leave the confines of his household. He need to go train after all, even with the little amount of chakra left in his body (most had been drained, in fear that he could overpower his guards.)

He reached for the door, when suddenly…there was a knock on his door.

He froze. What stupid fan girl was it this time? He heard himself let out a growl, and with snarl of rage, flung the door open. He didn't even have time to register who it was before he was viciously verbally attacking his visitor.

"CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE! WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM? CAN'T I EVEN HAVE A BIT OF PEACE AND QUIET! WHY ARE YOU SO PERSISTENT! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW ANNOYING YOU ARE! I'M SICK AND TIRED OF SEEING YOU'RE UGLY FACES! DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND WHEN I TELL YOU TO STOP BUGGING ME! YOU'RE SUCH A CLUELESS PERSON NOT TO NOTICE THAT **I DON'T WANT TO SEE, TALK, LISTEN, OR HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOU!**"

He let out a breath, and blinked.

…

_Oh…shit. _

In front of him looked a very startled (and slightly harassed) Haruno Sakura. She was staring up at him with those painstakingly innocent and round eyes.

…_Not good. _Was all that came to the Uchiha's mind. He had just unleashed a barrage of insults on the only teenage girl in Konoha who probably didn't deserve it.

NOT…that she wasn't annoying or anything. But she was…tolerable.

"S-Sasuke," she stuttered out, too shocked to remember the suffix. "I-I was just checking u-up on you."

She cringed back slightly, as though expecting another attack. "I'm really sorry if I-I was bothering you." She turned away slightly, and muttered, "I'll be leaving now."

_You screwed up so much Uchiha. _

"Sakura," he called out before he could stop himself. "Hn. What do you want?"

The girl seemed to be slightly more cheerful now that the boy didn't seem as annoyed at her as he had looked before. She put on her cheeriest smile. "I haven't been able to visit you since your return, Sasuke-kun! Since there were so many patients at the hospital the past few days."

Sasuke recalled Naruto blabbering about how Sakura had become a renowned medic-nin. 'She has inhuman strength! It's so awesome!' the blonde had said.

"Hn."

"Anyway, I just wanted to give you a get well gift since I might not be able to see you for the next few days either."

…_Oh my god. Not again._

Almost out of thin air, a box whipped out and Sakura shoved the package in front of him. "I baked you a cake Sasuke-kun! I hope you like it."

The anger was coming back. He had thought that his ex-teammate wouldn't be as stupid as his other fangirls, but apparently, he was wrong. Didn't she understand that he hated gifts that meant nothing?

"I hate sweets."

"…What?" The crestfallen look on her face was almost enough to make him consider changing his answer…almost.

"I hate sweets."

"Oh…" she looked like a kicked puppy for a few seconds, before the (extremely fake) smile was back on her face. "Well…just take it anyway!..." She trailed off. "I'll be going…yeah…see ya later."

A very reluctant Sasuke was forced to take the wrapped box. As the pink haired kunioichi quickly vanished from his sight.

With an agitated sigh, he entered his house once again to place the 'gift' down. He glanced to his right, where the rest of his fangirl's gifts were stacked on the living room table. He would probably just throw them out later.

He was about to do the same to Sakura's gift…when something stopped him.

He guessed what caught his eye was that…it was so not eye-catching.

All of the other gifts were decorated with (badly drawn) Uchiha fans, and hearts, and glitter and all sorts of other elaborate designs. Sakura, though her gift was wrapped, was just a plain simple box, which seemed to be wrapped hastily in blue wrapping paper.

Stuck in his thoughts, the Uchiha never noticed that he had placed the gift onto his kitchen counter, instead of with all the other gifts.

He headed out to train, as the lone box stayed in his kitchen, where it would remain untouched for quite a few days.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

"Ahhhh!" the village's number one noisy ninja was making yet another racket. "Where is Sakura-chan?"

"How should I know, dobe." The raven haired teen grunted in reply, already unhappy that the blonde had managed to drag him all the way to his favorite ramen shop, where they were supposed to meet Sakura for lunch. A day had passed since she had left on his doorstep, and Sasuke hadn't seen her since. He was quite content to keep it that way.

"She promised since two days ago!" the blonde was waving his hands around frantically. "Sakura-chan would never forget! Maybe something happened! What if she was kidnapped? What if-"

"Naruto!" he was cut off by a female voice. Both boys turned around to see Yamanaka Ino standing there.

"Ino?" Naruto had no idea why she was there.

"Forehead girl wanted me to tell you that she can't make it since she isn't feeling well." A sign of contempt was made. "I can't believe that she's asking me to do petty favors like that for _her. _She's wasting my precious time." Her eyes softened. "I hope she's alright."

Sasuke really didn't understand girls. One moment Ino was acting like she hated the pink-haired girl with a passion, and the next she was acting like a concerned mother.

"WHAAAAAAT!" Naruto cried out. "Poor Sakura-chan is sick! Maybe we should go visit her or something!"

"You do that," Sasuke got up. "I'm leaving."

He ignored Naruto's protest and swept out of the ramen restaurant. He had other things to attend to.

But still…he couldn't help but wander what had caused her sudden sickness.

After all, she was fine yesterday wasn't she?

Uchiha Sasuke, genius or not, could be really dense sometimes.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

By the third day, Uchiha Sasuke started to become suspicious. Two more times, Naruto had dragged the Uchiha to lunch, and one of Sakura's friends had come up to inform them that she was still feeling unwell.

As usual, the Uchiha left, though this time instead of heading to the training grounds, he headed to the hospital, where Sakura was supposedly working when she didn't have missions.

He had talked to Naruto about when he had visited Sakura, but the blonde had just shrugged and said that Sakura hadn't let him in. But she sounded sick. Her voice was…QUOTE NARUTO: 'all choked up and hoarse.'

When he arrived at the hospital and asked for Haruno Sakura, the lady at the front desk apologized. "I'm sorry, Haruno-san isn't in today. She's been calling in sick for the past three days."

_Is she really sick? _Sasuke wondered.

"But I think that is quite strange," the lady continued on. "Sakura is one of the best healers, beside Shizune and Tsunade-sama. If it was a common cold, she should be able to cure herself instantaneously. I hope it isn't anything too serious."

Sasuke left the hospital feeling even more suspicious than before.

He made his way home.

What could be the sudden source of her sickness? Perhaps some enemy nin had inflicted a genjustu or ninjustu onto the unsuspecting kunoichi, which made her think she was sick, so she would be unable to attend the hospital, therefore not being able to heal the patients, and therefore reducing Konoha's population, and therefore…wait, what the heck was he thinking? That thought was highly improbable.

The thought struck him like lightening when he passed the kitchen, and spotted the lone box on the counter.

_Do you think…? _He walked inside, and stared down at the gift. All the other gifts had already been thrown away, and the Uchiha hardly remembered placing Sakura's gift on the counter.

_What's inside? _She had said she baked a cake, and a sudden image of her disappointed face came into his mind. With a sigh, he opened the wrapping paper. Maybe it was because he felt guilty or maybe he was just curious as to the contents inside.

When he saw what lay awaiting him…his guilt only increased even more.

A round cake lay in front of him, covered in pink icing. Now normally, Sasuke would off and sneer at the idea of someone giving him a pink cake, but it was forgotten when he saw what was in the middle of the cake. A splotch of red icing, with a few waves of green icing on top, the words 'Hope You Feel Better' in the middle, Sasuke found himself staring at a…red tomato.

He…was such an idiot.

He knew he should apologize, but his pride (or a.k.a his ego) wouldn't allow it. Uchiha Sasuke never apologized for anything.

How in the world would he express his apology, then? He was sure of it now, _he _was the source of Haruno Sakura's sickness.

The perfect solution came soon enough, and with a satisfied smirk, Uchiha Sasuke closed the lid of the cake, and headed towards Haruno Sakura's apartment.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

No one answered when he knocked out first. But when the tenth knock came, a sulky voice answered. "I'm not feeling well. Please leave."

"Sakura." He could picture her freezing on the other side of the door at the sound of his voice.

"S-Sasuke-kun. I-I'm not myself. You should leave."

"I need to talk to you." He insisted. "And I'm not leaving."

There was a loud sigh from the other side, and slowly the door creaked open. A very distraught Sakura stood in the doorway. Her hair was tangled. Their were slight bags under her eyes.

"Where's your kitchen?" he asked.

When she led him there, slightly confused at what this was all about, he motioned for her to sit down.

He took out a box, and with dismay, Sakura noted that it was her gift.

_He's come to tell me how annoying I am, hasn't he! _Inner Sakura cried in anguish. Outer Sakura was trying hard not to do the same thing.

"Sakura," he said again. "You know, I hate sweets."

"I know…" she mumbled. She was so stupid to think the Uchiha would appreciate anything from her. She had slaved at that cake into the dead of night, and waked up earlier to put the icing on. She had arrived late to work, since she had made a detour at Sasuke's house. But in the end…he didn't care.

"That means I hate cakes," he continued as he took out a kunai.

Sakura's eyes widened. What was he going to do?

She closed her eyes instinctively, not wanting to see the destruction of her precious cake. Clattering was heard, and she squeezed her eyes tighter. She couldn't take this! "Sasuke! Please don't do thi-mmphh!" Something was shoved in her mouth.

"Chew."

She chewed and slowly, her eyes opened. "Is this…my cake?"

"You didn't let me finish," he grunted as his head turned away, as though embarrassed. "I hate cakes, but I really do appreciate the thought."

Sakura found the corners of her mouth lifting up. Was Uchiha Sasuke…_the Uchiha Sasuke…_apologizing (in his own weird way)…to her, _Haruno Sakura? _

With another grunt, he stabbed the fork he had gotten into another cut up piece of the cake, and shoved it into his mouth. He chewed and swallowed, and Sakura tried to keep herself from laughing as he tried to hide his obvious disgust from her.

"Sasuke-kun," she began. "You don't have to eat it if you really don't like sweets."

"Hn."

"But thanks anyway."

"Hn."

"I have some tomatoes in my refrigerator. Would you like me to cook some tomato soup?"

"…I would like that."

Sakura smiled. Everything was alright now.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

_A few hours later: _

Sasuke and Sakura sat on her couch, unconsciously sitting very close together. They sat in comfortable silence, until Sakura spoke up:

"Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn?"

"You know I was really sick and you and I shared the same fork when you ate that cake?"

"…"

A laugh. "Sasuke, let me warn you that you should be prepared for one nasty flu."

"…"

"And next time…"

"…"

"Cut a cake with a knife instead of a kunai like a regular person."

"…You're annoying."

Another laugh. "But you wouldn't have it any other way, right?"

A slight smirk. "Hn."

* * *

**Sorry if they seemed a bit OOC. But I needed to make them that way for the interaction to occur. Please Review! **


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